vitamin scams?

At the begining of summer, I recieved a notification of a new job opening. It was for this company called symmetry direct and they sell vitamins and herbal tonics to increase longevity and health. At first, I was interested because i needed a job and this was one of the only things I could find. So I applied and quickly got a response back for an 'interview'.

During the interview I was greeted kindly and directed to sit in front of a large screen TV with a large group of older folks and young college students. 10 mnutes later they played a video which kept saying:

"The health care and wellness industry grew by 200% last year. As the baby boomers retire they're going to want somewhere to spend their money, are you going to let this opportunity slip right by. Where will you be when your grandchildren ask you about this momentus time?"

They touted their products as the best products ever made for the industry and that there are none like them. They mentioned medical journal articles where their products are touted as "The Best" (not by name of course or by title for that matter). The mentioned clinical trials and studies where vitamins were tested against each other and people chose their products without ever knowing whose was whose.

So around this time I start to realize that this isnt a job interview, but more of a sales pitch. I look for an escape, but I realize I chose to sit in the very middle of the row and that no amount of ninjitsu would save me without making a scene. 10 minutes pass and the video ends. As I was making for the door I was approached and accosted with a sales asscoiate's pitch and I listened. I figure maybe I can find some real infromation on who's doing this. I ask about the quality, manufacturing methods, designers, ingredients and distrobution practices. I get a lovely smokescreen about how wonderful and smart their doctor is who designs their products (Dr. Mark Crapo http://www.symmcorp.com/products/council.htm#1)

I say thats great and I ask about these Journal articles. The names, dates, titles of the articles and the authors. At this point the saleswoman say she doesnt know, but she can find someone who does.
so I wait another 10 minutes and her manager comes up and asks me "If I've been helped" and I said "Yeah, I'm the guy who wanted the names of those articles." So he's like "All right" and tries to make a go with the 'Dr. Mark has been in school for 20 years and he knows his stuff' argument.
So I repeat my desire to have a look at these published pieces and he says they're on the web page and he'll see if he can find them. He brings up the website and does some clicking around between one or two pages and he says he can't find them and that they might have moved them because we're growing company. So I ask him for their web address and he gets agitated a bit.
He asks me straight up: "Why do YOU want to read them so much? Are you a doctor?" So I say: "Of course not, but I'd still like to read them for myself and confirm the claims you have made before I buy any of your products and attempt to sell them to family or friends."
"Even if you had them you wouldn't be able to understand them. I've been doing this for 8 years now and there are things in them that still sound like gibberish to me."
"Oh really? Well, I'd still like to read them and confirm for myself, If its not to much trouble?"
"No, its not to much trouble, its just we're out of copies and I can't find them on the web."
"OK, well you could email me a copy later."

To this he agreed and I exchanged my email address and to this day I have never recieved any journal names....see Part II

After this I left and was so mad they wasted my time I was randomly swearing and screaming in my car, mentally scaring all those who drove by within earshot.

Four months later, yesterday I recieved a call for an interview. So I call the guy back, not knowing who it was that called as I'm applying for a lot of jobs right now. I am immediatly affronted with the same vague offer. So I ask how to get to their place of business and lo and behold he starts rattling off the same set of directions I was given not 4 months earlier.
I stop him by finishing his directions for him and he's like: "Oh, you've been here before!? does this sound like something you want to do?"
"Nope. To be honest, I think this is a scam."
"Wha..really? I think you need to be re-educated as to what that word really means. We are a member of the BBB and been in business for 8 years here."
"hmmm, thats interesting, because when I did a search I found no entries in the columbus BBB website for symmetry direct.
"Well we are....You're still looking for a job, thats why you called, If you didn't need one you wouldn't have called back, you're missing a good opportunity."
"I called because I was being polite and you left a vague message. Im going off to class now, Im done discussing this, have a nice day."

The reason I bring this up is this seems to have a lot in common with a lot of those fraudulent MA companies that we are so fond of here. (and they just piss me off...I'll re-educate you about the face and neck, bitch.)

nah, not really. I was more going for the idea that these guys are using the same tactics as some of those MA frauds. kind of long an drawn out, but I thought it was entertaining after they called back.......

That's nothing, you should see the financial industry if you wanna see scams.

Oh, and thanks for the sig

Seriously, most likely grabbing somebodies crotch like that is only going to make your situation much, much worse. Unless the person doing the gullotine has no pants on, then it's okay as long as they bought you dinner first. - Kidnemo

I don't know about angels, but it's fear that gives men wings - Max Payne

well their super sayan black ninja vitamin tonics start at $149 per pack (one month supply only).
the ingredients are generally nothing more than a GNC mega mens supplement. I've been trying to find out if they contract out to some other company to make their vitamins. It'd be funny if its the same manufacturer for GNC's brands.......

At the begining of summer, I recieved a notification of a new job opening. It was for this company called symmetry direct and they sell vitamins and herbal tonics to increase longevity and health. At first, I was interested because i needed a job and this was one of the only things I could find. So I applied and quickly got a response back for an 'interview'.

During the interview I was greeted kindly and directed to sit in front of a large screen TV with a large group of older folks and young college students. 10 mnutes later they played a video which kept saying:

"The health care and wellness industry grew by 200% last year. As the baby boomers retire they're going to want somewhere to spend their money, are you going to let this opportunity slip right by. Where will you be when your grandchildren ask you about this momentus time?"

They touted their products as the best products ever made for the industry and that there are none like them. They mentioned medical journal articles where their products are touted as "The Best" (not by name of course or by title for that matter). The mentioned clinical trials and studies where vitamins were tested against each other and people chose their products without ever knowing whose was whose.

So around this time I start to realize that this isnt a job interview, but more of a sales pitch. I look for an escape, but I realize I chose to sit in the very middle of the row and that no amount of ninjitsu would save me without making a scene. 10 minutes pass and the video ends. As I was making for the door I was approached and accosted with a sales asscoiate's pitch and I listened. I figure maybe I can find some real infromation on who's doing this. I ask about the quality, manufacturing methods, designers, ingredients and distrobution practices. I get a lovely smokescreen about how wonderful and smart their doctor is who designs their products (Dr. Mark Crapo http://www.symmcorp.com/products/council.htm#1)

I say thats great and I ask about these Journal articles. The names, dates, titles of the articles and the authors. At this point the saleswoman say she doesnt know, but she can find someone who does.
so I wait another 10 minutes and her manager comes up and asks me "If I've been helped" and I said "Yeah, I'm the guy who wanted the names of those articles." So he's like "All right" and tries to make a go with the 'Dr. Mark has been in school for 20 years and he knows his stuff' argument.
So I repeat my desire to have a look at these published pieces and he says they're on the web page and he'll see if he can find them. He brings up the website and does some clicking around between one or two pages and he says he can't find them and that they might have moved them because we're growing company. So I ask him for their web address and he gets agitated a bit.
He asks me straight up: "Why do YOU want to read them so much? Are you a doctor?" So I say: "Of course not, but I'd still like to read them for myself and confirm the claims you have made before I buy any of your products and attempt to sell them to family or friends."
"Even if you had them you wouldn't be able to understand them. I've been doing this for 8 years now and there are things in them that still sound like gibberish to me."
"Oh really? Well, I'd still like to read them and confirm for myself, If its not to much trouble?"
"No, its not to much trouble, its just we're out of copies and I can't find them on the web."
"OK, well you could email me a copy later."

To this he agreed and I exchanged my email address and to this day I have never recieved any journal names....see Part II

Hi, I'm Dr. Mark Crapo. One of my Aikido students came across your post regarding a bad experience with Symmetry Direct and passed that info on to me. I wanted to personally apologize to you and ask, what city this took place in, if I could? I won't go into any great detail here since this is a martial arts forum and Symmetry is a nutrition company. (I'm the VP for Product Technology and Training.) But, I invite you to visit my personal web site (www.DrMarkCrapo.com) and if you have any further questions you can e-mail me privately.

Hi, I'm Dr. Mark Crapo. One of my Aikido students came across your post regarding a bad experience with Symmetry Direct and passed that info on to me. I wanted to personally apologize to you and ask, what city this took place in, if I could? I won't go into any great detail here since this is a martial arts forum and Symmetry is a nutrition company. (I'm the VP for Product Technology and Training.) But, I invite you to visit my personal web site (www.DrMarkCrapo.com) and if you have any further questions you can e-mail me privately.

I find it so ironic that he's an Aikido instructor. So... so... so ironic.

EDIT: Ok, at first I was going to call troll on this guy, but if he's is it's rather elaborate. His URL whois info seems legit.

Last edited by Samfoo; 7/09/2006 11:26pm at .

Originally Posted by Osiris

Imagine if track was run like the martial arts community. While the winning teams would just sprint down the field, smoking the competition, you'd have a bunch of losers running around explaining how they can skip down the track just as fast. Never mind that it doesn't fucking work. Oh no, they're too fast for track. They run on the STREET.